Just like this grouper is hiding inside a giant barrel sponge, as a new DBA you might be feeling scared of your new responsibilities around SQL Server. There's a lot to learn, but where do you start? What's important and what's not? This course will help you learn how to keep the lights on so that SQL Server meets the business requirements for availability and performance.

Just as zooxanthellae help to build a reef, IEPTO1 builds a data professional’s SQL Server PTO foundation. In this 3/400-level course we cover performance tuning of data files, log files and logging, tempdb, table and index structures and then we show how to create and tune using a comprehensive indexing and statistics strategy. This deep course is the core of a strong SQL Server professional – whether developer, administrator, or architect.

Just as a dolphin effortlessly glides through the water, after attending IEPTO1 and IEPTO2 you will be able to dive deep into your SQL Server problems. This course builds on our IEPTO1 course and includes deep troubleshooting and workload analysis. The primary focus is on monitoring resource usage, properly using wait statistics and Extended Events, analyzing query plans and the plan cache, tuning CPU and memory-specific problems, and much, much more!

High availability and limited data loss do not just happen. IECAG helps you understand Failover Cluster Instances and Availability Groups in SQL Server so you can architect the RIGHT solution for your business needs and service level agreements. Don't let your ship sink!

Just as these two shrimp are hidden within this anemone, critical information can be hidden within your data. The IEPML course shows you how to access that information and turn it into a valuable business asset. During the week we cover R, Azure Machine Learning, and SQL Data Mining, giving you the foundations required to organize, process, and present information, whatever your requirements are.

Chicago, IL, US: October 2-6, 2017

Overview

This 3/400-level, 5-day, SQL Server training class is part one of our two-part, comprehensive training program on SQL Server performance tuning and optimization (with IEPTO2 being the second half). Each week of this course stands alone, but we recommend taking Part 1 before Part 2 as more than 90% of people who attend IEPTO2 first then go back and take IEPTO1.

This class will give you a wealth of practical optimization techniques that you can put into production as soon as you return to work and we ensure you understand *why* and *how* a technique works rather than just what the technique is. This usually means we will explain how SQL Server works internally while discussing a specific topic. Our aim is that you can apply what we teach you to any situation and justify your solution to your peers, management, or clients (yes, we welcome SQL Server consultants in our classes).

As well as optimization techniques, this course will also help with design and architecture so you can prevent performance and scalability problems from happening. The cores of this class are comprehensive coverage of indexing and statistics strategies: a SQL Server workload will not perform well unless these are designed, implemented, and tuned correctly. You will also learn why and how to optimize transaction log operations, tempdb and data file configuration, transactions and isolation levels, and locking and blocking.

All these topics will be addressed on multiple fronts: how SQL Server works, implementation considerations and techniques, common problems, troubleshooting, and resolutions.

This course will cover SQL Server 2005 through SQL Server 2016, and is essential for all SQL Server developers, DBAs, and architects. We will answer all your questions, to whatever depth you want to go.

Please note: demos will vary between versions and questions can be answered on any releases from SQL Server 2000 through the current release. And, if you’re a glutton for punishment and have even older versions, feel free to ask questions about any version ever released – someone on the team can probably answer it!

Quotes From Past Attendees:

Listed below are some verbatim quotes from recent attendees of this class:

“Amazing learning experience! Having followed SQLskills from afar while developing my SQL Server knowledge, it was eye-opening to learn from Paul and Kimberly in person.”

“In 20 years of database administration, best performance training I have ever had!”

“Always the best – Paul and Kimberly, you both rock!”

“I was a better DBA after the first day!”

“I loved how all the topics built on top of one another. At the end, I was able to the entire picture. This was the most informative class I have EVER had. Thank you!”

“I really admire your team approach and enjoyed the different presentation styles.”

“By far the most useful and educational training I have attended. Aside from the material covered, which was well organized, the discussions and Q&A information was great.”

“It’s not every day I get to meet experts in the industry. Truly, both of you are gifted with amazing teaching skills.”

“Immediately applicable information gained, already discussing with those in the office while at training.”

“No other course I have taken has even come close to matching the knowledge I have gained this week.”

“Both of you approach these topics with genuine enthusiasm – thank you!”

“Lots of good material – I would love to take another course with SQLskills (I’d even get a lot of value from repeating this same course!)”

“Excellent course. I consider myself to be lucky to have attended course presented by the ‘best’ in the world. Not only you guys are extremely knowledgeable, but had the ability to break it down.”

“This was the first course where I was made to feel extremely welcomed, just as a person or guest when they come for a visit. Thank you for your time and effort in making this a great valuable experience.”

“This was the most unique and amazing course I’ve ever attended. It’s not often that you get the opportunity to learn from two individuals who are so knowledgeable, friendly, and truly *care* that you understand the material. Thank you both so much!”

“Your overall training methodology is wonderful, and you both are very easy to talk to and ask questions. The training dynamic between you is awesome as it makes training productive but enjoyable.”

“The difference of knowing how to cook in your own kitchen and then being taught how to be a chef in a 5-star restaurant.”

“Fantastic knowledge provided by Paul and Kimberly. Answered all of my questions, whether it was high or low level. No arrogance. Paul and Kimberly are very enthusiastic and want to share their knowledge with a genuine and professional approach.”

“Could we make IEPTO1 mandatory for our application vendors?”

“Excellent. Mind blown. Can’t wait to take another SQLskills class.”

“Great course! Impressive scope and depth of knowledge, very well delivered with real-world examples and practical takeaways.”

Event details:

Class will run from 8:30am-5:45pm Monday through Thursday and 8:30am-5:00pm on Friday.

Detailed agenda:

7:45am Breakfast

8:30am Class begins

9:45am 15-minute break

11:15am 15 minute break

12:30pm Lunch break (lunch is provided as part of the class)

1:30pm Class resumes

2:45pm 15-minute break with dessert

4:15pm 15-minute break

5:45pm Class ends (5:00pm on Friday)

For those of you planning air travel and departure times after the class completion on Friday: we do end at 5:00pm on Friday and we use every minute of that schedule, and often we run a few minutes over. For most deliveries we end between 5:00pm and 5:15pm. This depends on questions and we often push out the 5:45pm endings earlier in the week if things are running behind but I can honestly say that we’ve never ended early. Our general recommendation is for you to purchase tickets with departures no earlier than 8:00pm. However, each city/location may be a little different. Consider contacting the hotel (or the hotel’s website) for more specific insight into travel times and specific travel options to the airport.

Monday evening: “Meet-n-Greet” in the bar. We’ll open a tab and pick up the first round so we can get to know each other better and wind down from day 1.

You will receive printed materials for all of the lecture content. Additionally, after the event ends, we will provide all possible classroom demo content and electronic whiteboard slides on our website as a zip file.

Also included in your registration fee are coffee, breakfast, snacks and lunch. On the registration page, please let us know if you are vegetarian (other dietary requirements are your own responsibility).

Location details:

This hotel is 20 minutes from O’Hare airport and is near a large mall with many amenities. We’ve held more than fifty Immersion Events here since 2011.

The hotel has a special rate from US$129/night, for a two-room suite!

You can access this special rate by using the hotel’s group registration link here.

RESERVE YOUR HOTEL NIGHTS EARLY: SQLskills has a LIMITED number of rooms reserved under our group rate and these usually sell out. Even if you’re waiting to officially register for the class – you might want to get your hotel room setup early (ASAP) to ensure that you get the discounted/group rate and that you’re at the hotel where the event is being held. Most importantly, the earlier you get your hotel reservations confirmed, the easier it is for us to add rooms to our block. Thanks so much for helping us out with this!

The hotel rate includes:

Onsite parking.

Wireless internet access for the entire stay (it’s pretty good, but don’t expect to stream movies or quickly download very large files).

Full breakfast on Saturday/Sunday.

Full American breakfast during the Immersion Event will be served as part of class from 7:45 am until 8:30am. Class begins at 8:30 am.

Pricing details:

Full price for the Immersion Event is US$3,795.

Early-bird rate is US$3,295 for registrations received by end-of-day PST Thursday, August 31st, 2017.

Any discount code entered (for instance, for past attendees) will be reflected in the price during registration.

Special Pricing Options!

Past attendee price: If you’ve attended an Immersion Event in the past, you can register any time for 75% of the full price (US$2,995). Please contact us for instructions.

Cancellation/Transfer policy:

Your class registration can only be canceled up to 6 calendar weeks before the day the class begins, and the cost will be refunded minus a US$250 administration fee (and 5% credit-card processing charges, where applicable).

Registrations can be transferred to a colleague to attend the class the registration is for, at any time and at no cost.

Registrations can be transferred to a future class at any time before the day the class starts, but for transfers within two weeks of class, there is a US$750 fee to cover our prepaid event costs. Note: A registration cannot be canceled once it has been transferred to a future class.

A no-show registration (the attendee does not attend the class) is not eligible for a transfer or refund.

Registration details:

Click HERE to go to our events registration page, and please make sure to select the correct class from the drop-down menu at the top of the page.